The Dominick’s grocery stores in Evanston will close by the end of the year, the city said Wednesday night.
The two locations, 1910 Dempster St. and 2748 Green Bay Road, will shut their doors Dec. 28, about two and a half months after parent company Safeway announced it will exit the Chicago market by early next year. The Dominick’s owner said the move will affect 72 stores in the Chicago area.
The Safeway announcement almost immediately set off speculation about what would replace the Evanston stores. At the time, city manager Wally Bobkiewicz said there “should be lots of interest” in the sites.
“If there is a buyer for either we should know around Thanksgiving,” the city tweeted in response to a question at Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl’s town hall meeting.
Earlier this month, Tisdahl said she wants to make sure another grocery store replaces at least the Dominick’s location on Dempster Street.
“Some folk in the neighborhood really want a grocery store there because they rely on it, and it is definitely for some people the closest accessible grocery store,” she told Evanston journalists in an interview on ECTV’s “The Reporters.”
— Patrick Svitek
